SAM

‘Sam the man’ – is a phrase that has never been more suited than to the lovely gentleman we came across whilst having a few drinks at The Font on Tuesday night.

Of course, our attentions were first caught by his immaculate beard (if i had to pick one sentence to describe 2014, it would most definitely be “The rise of the beard and ponytail combo”, THEY ARE EVERYWHERE, BUT WE LOVE IT). But as we approached Sam and asked him to take part as a subject in our street style project, we were amazed by the man before us and his knowledge of.. well absolutely everything it seemed, and not in an arrogant “I know everything, please and thank you” kind of way, but the kind of way that was totally endearing and you know that he would definitely be the guy you want to consult before making any permanent life decisions. Oh Sam, how wonderful you are.

Anyway, enough fussing over the poor man who was expecting to have a quiet drink with mates and instead ended up in a stairwell with 4 girls asking him all sorts of questions, and lets get to the details of the interview:

Are you living in Manchester at the moment?

“Yeah, currently. I am working at Manchester School of Art at the moment in their sales department, I’m saving up to do a PhD next year. I’m going to do my PhD in International relations and Feminism.”
(SWOONING YET?)

Where are your clothes from that you’re wearing today?

“The top is Calvin Klein, and my belt i got made by a leather makers in Newcastle, and of course my shoes are Doc. Martins. My Jeans… well they’re actually women’s jeans from H&M. They fit better… or rather, fit how I want them to.” 

My face, at this point, drops as I question why I, a women, cant look that good in my own women’s jeans from H&M. 

What is the main thing that influences your personal style?

“Various things have influenced how i’ve dressed over the years, my style has changed considerably too from when i was younger to now, like i suppose anyones does. Music mostly I think influences me, musics always been a part of my life, like I used to be in an indie band, and then a jazz band, and then i was also in a swing band. But classic rock and roll is a main influence of my style.” Abbi then suggested James Dean… “yes I can go with James Deans, he’s cool.”

“I’m really not into this whole thing where brands are coming off like ‘all 90’s skate culture’. New Balance and Stussy used to be really great brands in the 90’s and now they’re being worn by people who aren’t into true skate culture and listen to modern house music and take too many drugs. Obviously thats an unfair generalisation and I don’t mean that in the way it probably sounds. The point i’m getting at is that they’ve lost their originality.” 

Then we asked the classic blogger question: What is fashion for you?

” For me i feel its like this; You get a lot of your confidence from the way your dress, whether or not you’re having a good day you can get up and choose what you want to wear and what makes you feel good and your whole perception changes for the day. You might wake up and feel crap, but then you walk to your wardrobe and put on something that you love and then you’re like ‘ yeah i’m feeling great today’.”

Is Ethical fashion something you think about when shopping for your clothes? 

“Massively Important! I try and buy mostly British Brands, or brands that haven’t been made over seas in scarily inhumane conditions. I was a politics student so it’s really massively complicated, like there wouldn’t be the work there for the people if the big brands didn’t go there but at the same time they take advantage of these desperate people and thats not fair. So yeah, I try and buy heritage brands usually.”

In that case, what are your favourite British brands?
“Fred Perry. Love Fred Perry.”

Our blog is focusing on fashion in manchester in particular, is there anything that you link or feel in particular about the subject of fashion and Manchester as a place that endorses it? 

“What came out of the 90’s and the brit-pop scene is impossible to get away from in Manchester, it’s always gonna be button-downed cotton shirts, parkers, and in a way Brit-pop made manchester. You can’t get away from that, but i think people, especially in the last 7 years with Manchester’s development, realised you have to distance yourself from doing the whole Liam Gallagher-esque type thing. The Brit-pop thing was so big here that now everyones desperately trying to get away from that and rebel and its ended up with Manchester being this big hub of diverse fashion, people doing their own thing, and its really interesting and really good for Manchester because now you’ve got all these amazing smaller brands popping up all over the place, and i think a lot of its down to the students here, they’re doing a really sick job of it.”

So that was marvellous Sam, we hope you that you’ve enjoyed reading his interview as much as we had conducting it… Sam’s our new fave guy. Cheers to Sam for taking part in our project!